Processing and production facilities are often managed using process control systems. Example processing and production facilities include manufacturing plants, chemical plants, crude oil refineries, and ore processing plants used to produce or process one or more products. Among other operations, process control systems typically manage the use of motors, valves, and other industrial equipment in the processing and production facilities.
In conventional process control systems, various controllers are often used to control the operation of the industrial equipment in the processing and production facilities. The controllers could, for example, monitor the operation of the industrial equipment, provide control signals to the industrial equipment, and generate alarms when malfunctions are detected.
Conventional process control systems may use transmitters to support communication between various components in the process control systems. For example, sensors often provide data to transmitters for communication to controllers in the process control systems. Similarly, other industrial instruments in the process control systems could be used to perform other various functions in the process control systems. These instruments require a power source to operate, and instruments in conventional process control systems use battery packs to receive operating power. Obviously, this requires the battery packs in the instruments to be replaced from time to time. However, an entire battery pack needs to be replaced when batteries in the battery pack need replacing.